Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard & JTG) were formed in May 2006 in Ohio Valley Wrestling. By September 2006, vignettes for the duo began airing on WWE television. They made their in-ring debut October 16 by picking up a victory over the Spirit Squad.
Their fast track to WWE television all happened thanks to a skit that Vince McMahon happened to watch.
"At that time, Dave Chappelle was hot. Shad and I tried a skit in OVW and it was very Comedy Central, Dave Chappelle-ish. [Vince] never saw me wrestle. He saw the skit, the writers were laughing and were like, 'You've got to see this.' They showed it to him and he was like, 'They look good, let's bring them up.' 'Well, [JTG] is not signed, Shad is signed.' 'Sign the little one and bring them up.' Never saw me wrestle, he just liked our on-screen chemistry together," said JTG on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia.
JTG explained that he was still working at Gold's Gym at the time and when he received the phone call that WWE wanted to sign him, he thought it was a rib at first.
"I get a call and it's Connecticut. I pick up the phone and its head of talent relations John Laurinaitis. I still think it's a rib because a lot of guys have been ribbed like this before where they get a call saying they've been hired. John's voice is very easy to impersonate."
Cryme Tyme became one of the more popular tag teams on the roster despite never winning tag team gold.
Elsewhere during the podcast, JTG remembered first meeting Gaspard. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please give a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
